KaKa

That wasn't the point of the discussion. The gentleman said Arsenal and Spurs don't do those deals, but they do sometimes. Never mind that they've only been there 5 mins too, and so writing them off already would be pretty strange. And you conveniently ignored how well the Trossard signing worked out for them in comparison to Mudryk who they ended up missing out on. Mudryk was the young high potential resale value guy. But Chelsea are going to end up with a huge loss there. There's a balance to be had with both approaches. It's not as simple or straightforward as always going young for resale value. Well unless you aren't really trying to compete with any urgency.

No worries man. Didn't take it as a dig. Was just trying to explain further.

I agree with the first part. We absolutely should have looked at a highly rated youngster as an understudy this past summer. But that ship has sailed. On the second point, we're not going to just sign players with the view to eventually flipping them all the time. Otherwise, we might as well get to flipping Isak, Bruno, Botman and whoever else other teams show interest in. We're still going to need a strong core of some first team players we ideally keep longer term if we are to be competitive.

Yeah, that's all I was saying. Absolutely should be for the odd signing, if the recruitment team and manager rate the player and they can be had for really good value.

Do we envision going into next season with someone like Huijsen starting alongside Botman though? Or are you thinking we roll out Schar again in that position?

Okay, but that's a different conversation, if you don't know him well or rate him personally, because you don't think he's strong in the air. We have already looked at a similar type of defender in Guehi, so it doesn't appear to be a concern for Howe and his team. What we were discussing was the whole resale value thing. And so I just shared examples from Arsenal and Spurs, the two clubs you mentioned.

£25 million for Tomori, is absurdly low for a player of that calibre and experience. And he isn't on high wages currently. Arsenal just did a similar deal for Merino at £30 million. He is 28. Trossard was also 29 when they paid £27 million for him last year. Spurs just spent £60 million(!!!) on Solanke. He is 27.

I don't think I can explain it any better than I have. We are not Brighton. And will not just start signing young prospects only. We are aiming to still be a competitive team that regularly qualifies for Europe. There has to be a balance within reason, otherwise we will not be able to compete for European places. And our current best players will have no incentive to stay if some quality players that can make a difference aren't coming in. It doesn't make any sense.

We should be doing that with younger players to fill up the squad all the way through to the youth teams. This work has already started. This does not mean that you then never sign any players that are experienced if it makes sense, and they are not completely past it. We went for Tosin this summer who was 27 because there was value there with no fee and wages that fit our structure. Schar cannot be relied upon next season as a starter. Tomori is a 27 year old centre back that won a league title in Italy, featured in a champions league final, is English with Prem experience and adds speed to our slow back line. They are saying the fee is £25 million, and his wages fit our structure. If we are not considering that type of deal when there is a gap there in our first eleven for him, then we are not approaching things correctly at all.

Not every single player is bought to eventually be sold at profit. If we still want to be competitive there has to be a balance. If we can get a high calibre player for the first team for a great fee and a wage that is within what we pay we have to take advantage of that when we can. 5 year deal to get him in his prime years as a defender. That's a yes for me!

Tomori it is then! Not injury prone. And his Milan wages are around 80k a week.

£25 million is what is being reported consistently. Just going off that really.

Still upset he screwed you over in FPL huh? No idea why you would ever pick anyone in a Dyche Everton team! That s on you sir! We will see what he does when he moves on next season. Then we'll all know for sure if he is too far gone. DCL's peak at Everton was never matched by Wood at Burnley by the way. If you want to play that game.

He should be looking at a West Ham or Fulham if he has any sense.

I don't even want DCL as I think we can be smarter in the market. However, you cannot overlook the team he plays for and how that impacts his performance. Especially now he has checked out completely as he is no longer wanting to stay there. Reminds me of how poor a goal threat Wood looked for us, and so many thought it was hilarious Forest paid what they did for him. And now not so funny.

Still just 28 years old. Surprised by that. Between Tomori and Christensen we have two options that can come in straight away and improve our back line and go on to partner Botman over the next 5 years. Paying around £25 million for either would be great business.

Pep is so weird man. A number of their signings make no sense. Both Doku and Nunes are so ill suited to their style of play. They are really more high tempo players that are better in teams that transition from back to front quicker and can exploit open space. Nunes was so good at Sporting especially. Such a waste in that Man City side. Seen us linked here and there. Hope we can nick him for cheap off them at some point. Would give us a more robust and dynamic version of what Willock offers when he's on it.

That pass was so slick man. Incredible play from him.

My goodness this is tragic. I admire the fight he has to keep pushing to come back, but looks like his career might be coming to an end. His body just isn't holding up. All this just ensures we move on with his contract running down, and we don't get enticed into giving him a new deal, and so that will be a relief because it would be a huge mistake to do so.

With some of the stuff I've been reading I think it will be very disappointing if we can't make something happen in January to give the team a jolt. I already mentioned Tomori being ready to come back to England, and AC Milan apparently being ready to accommodate that as the new manager has him out of the first team currently. They are looking for £25 million. Also at AC Milan, they are making Chukwueze available for £20 million, and he could be available on an initial loan too. Pulisic has made the right wing his and is limiting his opportunities, and they think he's too valuable to be kept on the bench. Chukwueze is very much a Premier League player. If we have shown interest in the likes of Mbeumo and Madueke, he's very much in that mould and type of player. Worst case scenario getting a loan deal done at least, if nothing else is possible, should be looked at. Looks like there will be deals available. I really hope we can do something.

Oh boy ... If that is true it is such a mess man. It wouldn't really surprise me if he's unsettled though. His role and place in the team still seems pretty unclear. Hope it's just fabricated.

This guy isn't very smart at all. These are such minor costs in the grand scheme of things and it is killing him PR wise. I was reading that one of the disagreements Ashworth had with him was centred around reducing the size of staff for certain departments, which Ashworth thought was a bad idea for some of the teams he was overseeing.

This is back to front. Bakayoko is the cheaper signing.

Been doing some snooping around, to see what the chatter is. There's a chance the deal might be £65 million plus Matheus Nunes.

Yeah, that's true. Took us a while to realise too. Was valuable to us though as we had no structure and minimum staff after Ashley, and so he would have likely resolved a lot of that. Probably why we hired him. Pretty weird they wouldn't know in their position.